It's Not Like That
by DaughterOfPoseidon333
Summary: Tag to 1x13 Being Human. One-Shot. Every time he doubted himself, doubted his humanity, Riley was right there to pull him back from the edge. She kept him human and that was something he would be eternally grateful for. They were in this together. And now...now he couldn't imagine a life without her.


**Hello everybody! So, after that amazing finale (hopefully just a **_**season **_**finale) I felt the need to write something and then this happened so :) It continues right after the Riley and Gabriel scene ends.**

**I don't own Intelligence.**

**Enjoy!**

**-:-**

"It makes you more than human." Riley said earnestly after a brief pause.

Not knowing what to say, Gabriel looked away but couldn't help the grin that started spreading slowly across his face. _Every time, _he thought. Every time he doubted himself, doubted his humanity, Riley was right there to pull him back from the edge that, if he stepped over, would send him plummeting into self-doubt and uncertainty that would, in fact, make him more machine than man. But she never let that happen. She kept him human and that was something he would be eternally grateful for.

Gabriel tapped his beer against Riley's, taking a swig from the bottle, unable to remember why it was that he hadn't wanted her as a bodyguard in the first place. He hadn't realized it till now, but Riley had come into his life at just the right time. When he'd met her, he'd already started to doubt the chip's ability, and his own, when he couldn't find Amelia. Riley had brought him newfound hope with her support, and even when she'd pushed him out that window, he never truly blamed her. She'd only been doing her job, and had been doing her job ever since.

Somewhere along the way, though, they started protecting _each other. _It was no longer just her protecting him. They were in this together. And now….now he couldn't imagine a life without her.

"Thank you," he said quietly, turning to face her again, careful not to move too quickly so as not to pull at his stitches again.

Riley gave him a quizzical look. "For what?"

"For always being there to remind me that I'm not the chip, that I'm not just some piece of government hardware." He answered.

"You _are _human," Riley reiterated. "I know you doubt that sometimes and I know there are others who doubt that as well…but I've seen the things that make you human, Gabriel. _This,_" she gestured around his apartment. "This is what makes you human. You sleep, eat…you even invite your mom to stay at your place after blowing up her kitchen. You make mistakes and you _feel. _Robots don't do any of that,"

Gabriel nodded his head in agreement, twisting his beer bottle back and forth in his hands. "It just…it _scares _me sometimes," he admitted. "Having this chip in my head, not always being in control…"

"Fear is a normal thing to feel. Everyone's scared of something,"

"_You_ never seem scared of anything," he said, giving her a little smile.

She was quiet for a moment, eyes cast down. "I was scared yesterday," she started quietly. "When you got shot. I was scared that you were going to die. I was scared that I was going to lose you."

Gabriel stayed silent. Riley always seemed so under control, so calm and collected. She hardly ever showed an excessive amount of emotion when doing her job, but by her quiet tone, Gabriel could tell him getting shot had really shaken her.

"You know what scares me the most?" he asked.

Riley shook her head, waiting for him to tell her.

"It scares me to think that I can be controlled or manipulated to do something I don't want to. I can be used to hurt people. I could hurt _you_…I _have _almost hurt you."

"Like your mom said, anyone can be manipulated into thinking the wrong thing," Riley reasoned. "You just have to think about it in emotions. That fear that you have, _that's _your humanity, Gabriel. You just have to hang on to those emotions, those feelings, and there's no way that you'll ever become something you're not."

"Especially not with you here to remind me, right?" he grinned.

"Well, that's my job right? To call you out on your shit and tell you when you're being an idiot?" she countered with a smile.

"I thought your job was to make sure I don't get hurt? Which, bang up job, by the way," he said, pointing at his side.

She shoved his arm playfully. "Hey, that is not my fault. In fact, if I hadn't gotten you out of there so quickly, you would've bled to death next to that minivan."

"Mm, actually it was my quick thinking to go to my mom's house that saved me,"

Riley opened her mouth to respond but his mom interrupted them. "Do you think you two could stop acting like an old married couple long enough to come and eat?"

Gabriel chuckled, standing up. Riley followed his lead, wearing a smile.

Gabriel stepped aside to let her pass. "After you, honey," he teased.

Riley shook her head, but walked ahead of him anyway. "Don't call me that,"

"Just friends, huh?" his mom muttered to him as he passed.

Gabriel didn't answer because he was pretty sure it wouldn't sound convincing enough. Yes, he and Riley were friends. He'd even go so far as to say best friends. But there were times when it felt like more than that, times where their connection seemed to stretch farther and deeper than he had ever originally thought possible. After Amelia he thought he would never feel _that way _ever again, but now…now he wasn't so sure.

-:-:-:-:-:-

After dinner, Riley helped with the dishes, with Gabriel washing, his mom rinsing, and she dried and put them away, moving about Gabriel's kitchen as if it was her own.

"And you're sure neither of you want desert?" Mrs. Vaughn asked again, handing her a dripping plate.

"_Mom,_" Gabriel groaned in exasperation. "Riley still has to walk home, you know. If either of us eats another bite, we'll explode."

"I have to agree with Gabriel," Riley said, sharing a look with her partner. "Dinner was wonderful, but no thank you on desert, Mrs. Vaughn."

"Riley, dear, you can call me Mary," Mrs. Vaughn said. "With you two being as close as you are, I think a first name basis is only appropriate,"

Riley opened her mouth to deny, once again, that it wasn't like that, but Gabriel beat her to it.

"It's not like that, Mom," Gabriel grumbled.

Riley didn't say anything. She was always the one denying that they were together, and it was weird to have Gabriel do so. Not that she minded; it was the truth—they _weren't _together, even though, at times, it could definitely be seen as otherwise. Hell, when Gabriel's chip had been hacked by Jin Kong, even Gabriel had asked if they were intimate. He only would've asked that if he saw something in her, in the way she acted around him that made him think so.

But Riley knew the risks. Don't get involved with your client was practically the top rule of the Secret Service. There was the obvious don't-let-your-client-get-killed thing, but as far as unspoken rules went, don't get involved with your protectee took the cake. She and Gabriel weren't involved _that way, _but she was certainly a lot closer to Gabriel than she had ever been to any of her past protectees.

So she denied it. Every single time someone implied that they were together, she spoke out against it right away. Not only to convince them, but to convince herself as well. When Gabriel had gotten shot, there had been a split second where she didn't know if he was alive or not and her heart felt like one move would shatter it in two. He'd been shot and her whole world crashed and burned beneath her. _That's _what terrified her. The fact that she felt like dying herself when he got hurt was evidence enough that she was already too close to him than she should be. And yet…it didn't bother her as much as it should have.

"Riley?" Mrs. Vaughn's voice snapped her out of her train of thought. "Dear, you've been drying that plate for five minutes, I think it's good."

Riley shook her head, catching Gabriel's eye as she went to put the plate away. He gave her a full-of-dimples smirk that made her think he knew what she'd been thinking about. She shook her head, knowing she was just being paranoid.

It was late when they finished with the dishes, and after the past two days, Riley was ready to sleep for about a year.

"I should probably get going," she announced.

She swore there was a flash of disappointment across Gabriel's features, but it was gone just as quickly as it had come so she couldn't be sure. He nodded, giving her a smile.

"Gabriel," Mary addressed her son. "I want to take a look at your bandages once Riley leaves, so why don't you go wait in the bathroom for me,"

"Mom—" Gabriel tried to protest, looking mildly confused. But Riley saw exactly what his mom was doing—she was trying to get Gabriel out of the room.

"_Now, _young man." His mom said firmly.

"Bossy," Gabriel muttered as he passed.

"What was that?" his mom asked.

"Nothing," he called out as he disappeared around the corner.

Mary turned back to her, gesturing for Riley to take a seat. Though she'd only met Mary Vaughn the day before, Riley had already figure out that it was best not to argue with the older woman so she sat down on the couch. Mrs. Vaughn sat down next to her.

"I just want to thank you for keeping my son safe," Mrs. Vaughn started off, straight to the point.

"I'm just doing my job," Riley replied.

"I know," Mary gave a wave of her hand. "But knowing how my son can be, most people would've given up by now. I just want you to know that I really appreciate you sticking with him. I'm really glad he has you in his life."

It was such an earnest thing to say, Riley didn't know how to respond.

"After Amelia, he went to kind of a dark place," Mary continued. "It took him a while to…come back, I suppose. He's happier than I've seen him in a long time and I think that's because of you."

"It's really not like that," Riley repeated the line she had been for nearly a year now. "We're just friends."

"I know that," Mary agreed, which surprised Riley a little. "_Right now _you're just friends. You don't see things the same way when you're on the inside. So take it from someone on the outside, there's something between the two of you. Whether that means you stay friends or it becomes something more depends. All I know is that Gabriel needs you. He doesn't have many people left who care about him, so I'm just glad that he has you. And I trust that you'll take care of him?"

"Of course," Riley replied.

"Good." Mary said with a note of finality. "Gabriel, get out here and say goodbye to your girl!"

A few seconds later, Gabriel appeared. "First you want me to go away and now you want me back in here? You know, if you wanted a moment alone with Riley, you could've just said so, instead of making up something about wanting to check my bandages."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mrs. Vaughn said flippantly, then headed off in the direction of Gabriel's spare room.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and Riley stifled a laugh. He turned to look at her, giving her a smile. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

"I can walk myself home, you know," she said as she stood, though she was secretly touched by the gentlemanly gesture. "There's only a street separating us,"

"Yeah, I know, but I need a few minutes away from her," he said, pointing a thumb back in mother's general direction.

Riley laughed, grabbing her jacket. Gabriel followed her, shutting the door behind them. they took the stairs, emerging onto the sidewalk just minutes later.

"She likes you, you know," Gabriel said suddenly as they crossed the street.

"Your mom?"

"Yeah,"

"How can you tell?"

"She asked you to call her Mary," he smiled.

She returned the smile. It quickly disappeared though as a thought occurred to her. She felt a nervous flutter in her stomach, not sure if she ask the question on her mind. They stopped outside the door to Riley's apartment building and, swallowing her uncertainty, turned to face him.

"Did your mom like Amelia?" she asked shyly.

Gabriel's face remained relatively passive, so she couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Not as much as she likes you," he said after a moment. "My mom liked Amelia and, of course, was happy when we said we were getting married,"

"But?" Riley prompted.

"But she always seemed a little distant from Amelia. At least, it seemed that way to me. And especially after seeing how she acted around you tonight, I can tell now that she never liked Amelia as much as she said. I dunno…maybe she saw the person Amelia really was, the part of her that I could never see." He shrugged, not seeming all that upset. Maybe he was finally moving on form Amelia. Strangely, the thought gave Riley a little surge of happiness. "I'm glad she likes you, though. And she was right,"

"About what?" Riley asked.

"I _do _need you," he smiled.

It took a moment for the pieces to click into place, but when they did, Riley felt her jaw drop slightly. She shut her mouth and then gave him a good punch in the arm.

"Where you _eavesdropping_?" she asked incredulously as he rubbed his bicep.

"Maybe a little," he replied sheepishly. "Only at the end though."

"What are you, twelve?" she snapped.

"Well when your mom says out of nowhere to go into a different room, yeah, I got a little curious," he defended.

Riley shook her head, doing a poor job of holding back a smile.

"You gonna come over for breakfast tomorrow? Mom's making pancake omelets. Family recipe," he said with a grin, changing the subject.

"Sounds disgusting yet oddly delicious," she commented. "I'll be there,"

"Good," he said, voice dropping an octave, blue eyes boring into hers.

_Just friends, just friends, _she chanted to herself. She fumbled for the door handle behind her, finding it and gripping the cool metal.

"Goodnight, Gabriel," she said, taking a step back.

He smirked. Then again, when did he ever not smirk? "Goodnight, Riley. See you tomorrow,"

She watched him turn around and head towards the edge of the curb. He dramatically looked both ways across the street and Riley rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see it. When he got to the other side, he turned back to look at her.

"See? Managed not to get hit by a car!" he called out teasingly.

Riley laughed, walking into her building, casting one last glance at him through the glass window of the door before heading up the stairs to her apartment. As she settled in for the night, one thought occurred to her that scared and thrilled her at the same time…

"I need you, too."

**-:-**

**So hope you guys liked it! **

**Review, pretty please! It really means a lot to me, and I love hearing your thoughts! **

**Also, feel free to leave me any thoughts you have about the finale in a review or PM; I am totally up for talking :)**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-DaughterOfPoseidon333**


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